Card for Player with Shortest Career
 

I had the good fortune to sit down and speak with Bobby Durnbaugh last Friday. He played in two games for the Cincinnati Reds in 1957 and said his callup was the best week of his life.

Bobby did not have a card produced, but it made me wonder what pro player had a card published but had the shortest career in the majors?

I would guess Moonlight Graham, but his case is unique.

Eddie Gaedel
 

It would have to be Eddie Gaedel!! He quite literally had the "shortest" time in the majors!!

1.000 career OBP ain't ba either!

There was that guy who was hit in the head from the Marlins on his first AB and never made it back to the show until he made a campaign for himself last year. I think the mets picked him up this year.

Hal Stowe's up there with 1 game played for the Yankees in 1960 then for no good reason he got a card in 1962 Topps

How about Memo Luna 1954 Bowman #222 pitched 2/3 of an inning in one game for the Cardinals and took the loss in his only big league appearance.

Emil Geiss got about five too many poses in the Old Judge set for his one start in the majors. One it which he gave up 17 hits and 11 runs.

Let's nominate Ray Ryan who was in the T206 with Roanoke among other sets. He was active with the 1908 White Sox, but never appeared in a game. He went on to become a prominent minor league manager and president of the Appalachian League.

Bobby Durnbaugh DID have a card
 

1957 Omaha Cardinals

Larry Yount. He was a relief pitcher that started to warm up on the mound and hurt his arm. Never threw a pitch officially ever. Is that too short?

For t206 fans, Hunky Shaw had one plate appearance for the Pittsburgh Pirates (0 for 1, one strikeout) in 1908.

I can't name any off-hand, but I would think quite a few players made their way onto a Topps multi-player rookie card without ever appearing in a major league game. Also, in the early 90s, all the card companies started coming out with cards of "players" who had just finished high school and were sent to play Single A ball. It was part of the rush by the card companies to have the earliest pre-rookie card of promising young players. I'm sure that many of these guys never made it to the majors, but haven't done the research to identify any of them.

I don't follow 1990s cards, but I think Michael Jordan appeared on a baseball card, and he never got higher than Double A.

/

Larry Yount was also my answer. Since he was called over the PA and he was officially inserted into the game, he is listed in baseball reference as having played in one official game. But he did get hurt warming up and was never to return. Didnt know he had a card. Back in the day, topps would make tons of cards of up and commings who never made it. I think MLB(Selig) got involved because of people couldnt figure out which card was each players real rookie card(kind of sounds like our over-involved gov't) and stopped topps from making cards of players in their base set until they have played in a game. Someone may know or have a better explanation than mine.

In the recent era, it would be Adam Greenberg with the Cubs. He was hit by a pitch on the first pitch for his first time at bat. Then he came back last year with the Marlins & struck out. Lifetime 0 for 1. There are many different baseball cards of him.

I'm going with this guy:

http://www.amazon.com/Olbermann-Clos.../dp/B008REEPDE

In 1914, the Pirates had a catcher named Sam Brenegan. In his first major league game, he came on in the sixth inning on defense, as the Pirates were losing 8-1 to the Cardinals. Fred Clarke gave George Gibson the rest of the game off and gave a 23-year-old rookie his debut. With a man on base, the pitcher uncorked a wild pitch and Brenegan walked after the ball allowing the runner to move up. A few pitches later, a passed ball tips off his glove, hurting his finger. Brenegan walked after the ball, picks it up and walks to the bench, taking himself out of the game. Needless to say, the Pirates dropped him and he never played in the majors again. Brenegan is in the 1914 Zeenut set

Shortest career for an active T206 player in 1909
 

This story doesn't quite fit in this thread, but is connected in a way. Granted the T206 set is populated by several players who never played a major league game. Granted, as well, that Mike Powers was 38 years old in 1909, the first year of the T206 issue, and had been in the majors and minors since 1896. I'm also sure that many of you know the story recounted below, but hopefully it will be new to some. Powers card in the 150 only series was not included in subsequent issues, due to the events that transpired on opening day in 1909, Powers' last game.:(

Opening Day April 12, 1909 was looking good for the Athletics as over 30,000 were on hand to dedicate the new Shibe Park. It looked even better with the 8-1-victory over Boston. Powers was happy to be catching his buddy Plank.

However, that Easter Monday took a strange, fatal twist. To this day, it’s not entirely clear just what happen to Mike Powers. It was a mystery, at least the viewers and probably to his teammates as well. The root of the problem was never pinpointed in contemporary accounts.

What is known is that Powers wasn’t feeling well and by the seventh inning he was slumped over in the dugout with violent pains. Blame was later attached to “an unusual effort to reach a ball (which) did some mysterious damage.” He had crashed into the wall trying to catch a ball in foul territory.

Other reports suggest he was hurt diving for a foul ball. Still others lay blame on a sandwich he consumed during the game; in fact, they all might have contributed to the problem or, perhaps, none of them did. A preexisting, unrecognized problem may have just decided to show itself on April 12.

Whatever he felt in the 7th inning, Powers pushed through and finished the game. But, he collapsed getting dressed in the clubhouse shortly after the game and was taken to Northwestern General Hospital. Initially he was diagnosed with gastritis and/or peritonitis.

The first of three operations took place the morning of the 14th. It was found that he had an invaginated intestine. A Surgeon removed a section of the intestine. The prognosis was bleak; doctors only gave Powers a 1 in 5 chance of surviving.

Powers agonized in the hospital. He endured two more operations and he couldn’t eat. Gangrene was infecting his bowels. It would prove fatal.:eek:

Certainly the story line that Powers died as a result of injuries sustained while crashing into a fence chasing a foul ball has some appeal, but it is probably more likely urban legend. From a medical and surgical perspective the condition Powers suffered from, intussusception, probably just surfaced on that day and would have resulted in the same outcome, with or without the foul ball and regardless of whether Powers played that day or not.

As a result of his 1 game career in 1909, Powers T206 card is somewhat rarer and carries a premium value due to relative rarity. Hopefully I'm not just preaching to choir, but in my defense the story also has a tie in to Easter.;)

Talk about disappointing.

Manuel Onis (1 for 1 for Brooklyn, 1935) in 1972 TCMA "The 1930s"
 

This question bugged me for about a day until it struck me that the guy's name was kind of unusual, began with "O" and was (probably) in the early (unnumbered) card series of the 1972 TCMA "The 1930s".

Manuel Dominguez "Curly" Onis (1908-1995) went 1-for-1 in a single game for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1935. (See http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl...onisra01.shtml )

TCMA honored him among the first 72 (unnumbered) cards of the increasingly popular (and difficult to complete) "The 1930s" series - a collection of more than 504 different cards and TCMA's largest. Cataloguers have assigned #56 to Onis' card - placing the those first 72 in alphabetical order for numbering purposes.

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I love the story of John Paciorek (His brother Tom was a local Mariner hero of my youth....yes, we had to stretch for hero's here in the NW in those days, lol). He is a great trivia question as arguably the greatest 1 game performer in history. Here is a link to his Wikipedia -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paciorek

He went 3/3 with 3 singles and two BB's in his only MLB game. There have been several 1/1 days of one game performers, but 3/3 is the best. This is the only card I could find for him -

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1983-Fritsch-...w4pw~~60_3.JPG

Btw
 

That game in which Paciorek went 3/3 is also known as the "All-Rookie" game as the Colt 45's started an entire lineup or rookies. Here is a good link to stories on that game

Other trivia facts on that game include Jay Dahl would be killed in an accident in 1965 and be the youngest person to play major leaguer to die (Age 19)


http://www.astrosdaily.com/history/19630927/


Rich

His name doesn't appear in the box score.

Great post Frank. :)

Sincerely, Clayton

John Paciorek's game was actually 2 days later than the all rookie game.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/P/Ppacij101.htm

I've been looking at a baseball I recently won from the Heritage Auction that had items from Musial's estate and I believe that Onis is one of the players who played with Musial on the Navy team and signed this ball (second from the top in this image if I am not mistaken, not sure what the nickname is...) Ironically, Lou Klein, who broke Onis's knee in a slide and ended his career also signed the baseball...

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3805/1...f014d17b_o.jpg

He was the one that immediately popped into my head.

My nominee is Ollie Fuhrman. Six games:

I'll offer up Ernie Cox. Only pitched 1 inning in one game in 1922, and still was pictured on a card 5 years later:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pl.../coxer01.shtml

http://www.sgccardregistry.com/cards/us195196.jpg

What about Lou Lowdermilk? Not only did he have a card, but it is an iconic one in an important tobacco set.

Re: Card for Player with Shortest Career
 

I'm not sure if this fits your definition, but I just read this recently:

Hall of Fame manager Walter Alston played in only one game,
September 27, 1936 as a substitute for future Hall of Famer Johnny
Mize. In his one plate appearance Alston struck out.

No card was ever produced for Alston as a player, but approx 40
cards were issued of him as a manager.

ErikV

Are there any cards out there for the most famous 1 day player, Billy Crystal? He signed a 1 day contract with the Yankees and led off a spring training game as the designated hitter and struck out on 6 pitches.

Although he struck out, Paul Maholm nearly walked him and Crystal did foul off a pitch.

Tom Selleck had a card in an Upper Deck set but I don't think he ever played; he did so much batting practice with the Tigers that the players called him "Magnum BP".

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...20misc%203.jpg

2 guys I saw play in the old PONY Lg (1951) & then the NY-Penn Lg (around 1966) back in my hometown of Wellsville, NY both had Topps cards but never played a day in the bigs. Angel Scull & John Thibdeau

Bob Leroy Powell
 

Bob was a pinch runner in 1 game during the 1955 season. In 1956 Topps erroneously showed # 17 (Chico Carresquel) in the action portion not # 21, which was Powells # that year. Bob returned in 1957 for 1 game and scored a run as a pinch runner...This time he did have uniform # 17 but no card and never an AB.

One of the iconic cards in this hobby pictures a man who never played an inning in the major leagues. Irving Lewis, one of the toughest crds in the T207 set, was a member of the Boston National League team for some time after the season started, playing in exhibition games but never getting into a regular-season game.